II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1073 

To amend the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Improvement 

Act of 2012, including making changes to the Do Not Pay initiative, 

for improved detection, prevention, and recovery of improper payments 

to deceased individuals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 23, 2015 

Mr. CARPER (for himself, Mr. JOHNSON, Mr. WARNER, Mr. COATS, and Mr. 

BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

Improvement Act of 2012, including making changes 

to the Do Not Pay initiative, for improved detection, 

prevention, and recovery of improper payments to deceased individuals, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stopping Improper 

5 Payments to Deceased People Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DISTRIBUTION OF DEATH INFORMATION FUR2 NISHED TO OR MAINTAINED BY THE SOCIAL 

3 SECURITY ADMINISTRATION. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 205(r) of the Social 

6 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)) is amended— 

7 (A) in paragraph (2)— 

8 (i) by striking ‘‘may’’ and inserting 

9 ‘‘shall’’; and 

10 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, and to ensure the 

11 completeness, timeliness, and accuracy of,’’ 

12 after ‘‘transmitting’’; 

13 (B) by striking paragraphs (3), (4), and 

14 (5) and inserting the following: 

15 ‘‘(3)(A) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, 

16 to the extent feasible, provide for the use of information 

17 regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or main18 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection in ac19 cordance with subparagraph (B), subject to such safe20 guards as the Commissioner of Social Security determines 

21 are necessary or appropriate to protect the information 

22 from unauthorized use or disclosure, by any Federal or 

23 State agency providing federally funded benefits or admin24 istering a Federal program for such benefits, including the 

25 agency operating the Do Not Pay working system for en26 suring proper payment of those benefits, through a cooperVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:37 May 06, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1073.IS S1073

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1 ative arrangement with the agency (that includes the 

2 agency’s Inspector General) or with an agency’s Inspector 

3 General, if— 

4 ‘‘(i) under such arrangement the agency (in5 cluding, if applicable, the agency’s Inspector Gen6 eral) provides reimbursement to the Commissioner of 

7 Social Security for the reasonable cost of carrying 

8 out such arrangement, including the reasonable 

9 costs associated with the collection and maintenance 

10 of information regarding deceased individuals fur11 nished to the Commissioner pursuant to paragraph 

12 (1), and 

13 ‘‘(ii) such arrangement does not conflict with 

14 the duties of the Commissioner of Social Security 

15 under paragraph (1). 

16 ‘‘(B) The Commissioner of Social Security shall, to 

17 the extent feasible, provide for the use of information re18 garding all deceased individuals furnished to or main19 tained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

20 through a cooperative arrangement in order for a Federal 

21 agency to carry out any of the following purposes, if the 

22 requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of subparagraph (A) 

23 are met: 

24 ‘‘(i) Operating the Do Not Pay working system 

25 established by section 5 of the Improper Payments 


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1 Elimination and Recovery Improvement Act of 2012. 

2 Under such arrangement, the agency operating the 

3 working system may compare death information dis4 closed by the Commissioner with personally identifi5 able information reviewed through the working sys6 tem, and may redisclose such comparison of infor7 mation, as appropriate, to any Federal or State 

8 agency authorized to use the working system. 

9 ‘‘(ii) To ensure proper payments under a Fed10 eral program or the proper payment of federally 

11 funded benefits, including for purposes of payment 

12 certification, payment disbursement, and the preven13 tion, identification, or recoupment of improper pay14 ments. 

15 ‘‘(iii) To carry out tax administration or debt 

16 collection duties of the agency. 

17 ‘‘(iv) For use by any policing agency of the 

18 Federal Government with the principle function of 

19 prevention, detection, or investigation of crime or 

20 the apprehension of alleged offenders. 

21 ‘‘(4) The Commissioner of Social Security may enter 

22 into similar arrangements with States to provide informa23 tion regarding all deceased individuals furnished to or 

24 maintained by the Commissioner under this subsection, 

25 for any of the purposes specified in paragraph (3)(B), for 


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1 use by States in programs wholly funded by the States, 

2 or for use in the administration of a benefit pension plan 

3 or retirement system for employees of a State or a political 

4 subdivision thereof, if the requirements of clauses (i) and 

5 (ii) of paragraph (3)(A) are met. For purposes of this 

6 paragraph, the terms ‘retirement system’ and ‘political 

7 subdivision’ have the meanings given such terms in section 

8 218(b). 

9 ‘‘(5) The Commissioner of Social Security may use 

10 or provide for the use of information regarding all de11 ceased individuals furnished to or maintained by the Com12 missioner under this subsection, subject to such safe13 guards as the Commissioner of Social Security determines 

14 are necessary or appropriate to protect the information 

15 from unauthorized use or disclosure, for statistical pur16 poses and research activities by Federal and State agen17 cies if the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph 

18 (3)(A) are met. For purposes of this paragraph, the term 

19 ‘statistical purposes’ has the meaning given that term in 

20 section 502 of the Confidential Information Protection 

21 and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002.’’; and 

22 (C) in paragraph (8)(A)(i), by striking 

23 ‘‘subparagraphs (A) and (B) of paragraph (3)’’ 

24 and inserting ‘‘clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph 

25 (3)(A)’’. 


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1 (2) REPEAL.—Effective on the date that is 5 

2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

3 amendments made by this subsection to paragraphs 

4 (3), (4), (5), and (8) of section 205(r) of the Social 

5 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 405(r)) are repealed, and 

6 the provisions of section 205(r) of the Social Secu7 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 605(r)) so amended are restored 

8 and revived as if such amendments had not been en9 acted. 

10 (b) AMENDMENT TO INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.— 

11 Section 6103(d)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 

12 is amended— 

13 (1) in subparagraphs (A) and (B), by striking 

14 ‘‘Secretary of Health and Human Services’’ each 

15 place it appears and inserting ‘‘Commissioner of So16 cial Security’’; and 

17 (2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘such 

18 Secretary’’ and all that follows through ‘‘deceased 

19 individuals.’’ and inserting ‘‘such Commissioner pur20 suant to such contract, except that such contract 

21 may provide that such information is only to be used 

22 by the Social Security Administration (or any other 

23 Federal agency) for purposes authorized in the So24 cial Security Act or this title.’’. 


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1 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON ALTERNATIVE

2 SOURCES OF DEATH DATA.— 

3 (1) REQUIREMENTS.—The Director of the Of4 fice of Management and Budget shall conduct a re5 view of potential alternative sources of death data 

6 maintained by the non-Federal sources, including 

7 sources maintained by State agencies or associations 

8 of State agencies, for use by Federal agencies and 

9 programs. The review shall include analyses of— 

10 (A) the accuracy and completeness of such 

11 data; 

12 (B) interoperability of such data; 

13 (C) the extent to which there is efficient 

14 accessability of such data by Federal agencies; 

15 (D) the cost to Federal agencies of access16 ing and maintaining such data; 

17 (E) the security of such data; 

18 (F) the reliability of such data; and 

19 (G) a comparison of the potential alternate 

20 sources of death data to the death data distrib21 uted by the Commissioner of Social Security. 

22 (2) REPORT.—Not later than 4 years after the 

23 date of enactment of this Act, the Director of the 

24 Office of Management and Budget shall submit a re25 port to Congress on the results of the review and 


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1 analyses required under paragraph (1). The report 

2 shall include a recommendation by the Director of 

3 the Office of Management and Budget regarding 

4 whether to extend the agency access to death data 

5 distributed by the Commissioner of Social Security 

6 provided under the amendments made by subsection 

7 (a)(1) beyond the date on which such amendments 

8 are to be repealed under subsection (a)(2). 

9 SEC. 3. IMPROVING THE USE OF DATA BY GOVERNMENT 

10 AGENCIES TO CURB IMPROPER PAYMENTS. 

11 The Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery 

12 Improvement Act of 2012 (31 U.S.C. 3321 note) is 

13 amended by adding at the end the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 7. IMPROVING THE USE OF DEATH DATA BY GOVERN15 MENT AGENCIES. 

16 ‘‘(a) GUIDANCE BY THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT

17 AND BUDGET.— 

18 ‘‘(1) GUIDANCE TO AGENCIES.—Not later than 

19 6 months after the date of enactment of this section, 

20 and in consultation with the Council of Inspectors 

21 General on Integrity and Efficiency and the heads of 

22 other relevant Federal, State, and local agencies, 

23 and Indian tribes and tribal organizations, the Di24 rector of the Office of Management and Budget 

25 shall issue guidance for each agency or component 


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1 of an agency that operates or maintains a database 

2 of information relating to beneficiaries, annuity re3 cipients, or any purpose described in section 

4 205(r)(3)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 405(r)(3)(B)) for which improved data matching 

6 with databases relating to the death of an individual 

7 (in this section referred to as ‘death databases’) 

8 would be relevant and necessary regarding imple9 mentation of this section to provide such agencies or 

10 components access to the death databases no later 

11 than 6 months after such date of enactment. 

12 ‘‘(2) PLAN TO ASSIST STATES AND LOCAL

13 AGENCIES AND INDIAN TRIBES AND TRIBAL ORGANI14 ZATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the date of 

15 enactment of this section, the Director of the Office 

16 of Management and Budget shall develop a plan to 

17 assist States and local agencies, and Indian tribes 

18 and tribal organizations, in providing electronically 

19 to the Federal Government records relating to the 

20 death of individuals, which may include rec21 ommendations to Congress for any statutory 

22 changes or financial assistance to States and local 

23 agencies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations 

24 that are necessary to ensure States and local agen25 cies and Indian tribes and tribal organizations can 


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1 provide such records electronically. The plan may in2 clude recommendations for the authorization of ap3 propriations or other funding to carry out the plan. 

4 ‘‘(b) REPORTS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON IMPROVING

6 DATA MATCHING REGARDING PAYMENTS TO DE7 CEASED INDIVIDUALS.—Not later than 270 days 

8 after the date of enactment of this section, the Di9 rector of the Office of Management and Budget, in 

10 consultation with the heads of other relevant Federal 

11 agencies, and in consultation with States and local 

12 agencies, Indian tribes and tribal organizations, shall 

13 submit to Congress a plan to improve how States 

14 and local agencies and Indian tribes and tribal orga15 nizations that provide benefits under a federally 

16 funded program will improve data matching with the 

17 Federal Government with respect to the death of in18 dividuals who are recipients of such benefits. 

19 ‘‘(2) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 1 year 

20 after the date of enactment of this section, and for 

21 each of the 4 succeeding years, the Director of the 

22 Office of Management and Budget shall submit to 

23 Congress a report regarding the implementation of 

24 this section. The first report submitted under this 


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1 paragraph shall include the recommendations of the 

2 Director required under subsection (a)(2). 

3 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the terms ‘In4 dian tribe’ and ‘tribal organization’ have the meanings 

5 given those terms in section 4 of the Indian Self-Deter6 mination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

7 450b).’’. 

8 SEC. 4. PLAN FOR ENSURING THE ACCURACY AND COM9 PLETENESS OF DEATH DATA MAINTAINED 

10 AND DISTRIBUTED BY THE SOCIAL SECURITY 

11 ADMINISTRATION. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

13 date of enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of Social 

14 Security shall submit to Congress a plan, which shall in15 clude the elements described in subsection (b), to ensure 

16 the accuracy and completeness of the death data (includ17 ing data regarding individuals who are not eligible for or 

18 receiving benefits under titles II or XVI of the Social Se19 curity Act) maintained and distributed by the Social Secu20 rity Administration. 

21 (b) CONTENT OF PLAN.—The plan required under 

22 subsection (a) shall include the following elements: 

23 (1) A procedure for identifying extremely elder24 ly individuals who are still alive according to the 


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1 records of the Social Security Administration and 

2 verifying the accuracy of this information. 

3 (2) Improved policies and procedures for identi4 fying and correcting erroneous records, including 

5 policies and procedures for— 

6 (A) identifying individuals listed as dead 

7 who are actually alive; 

8 (B) indentifying individuals listed as alive 

9 who are actually dead; and 

10 (C) allowing individuals or survivors of de11 ceased individuals to notify the Social Security 

12 Administration of potential errors. 

13 (3) Improved policies and procedures to identify 

14 and correct errors in the records of the Numerical 

15 Identification System, and death data. 

16 (4) A process for employing statistical analysis 

17 of the death data maintained and distributed by the 

18 Social Security Administration to determine an esti19 mate of the number of erroneous records. 

20 (5) Recommendations for legislation. 

21 (c) IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAN.—Not later than 2 

22 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commis23 sioner of Social Security shall implement the plan required 

24 under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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